I have to ask, who the fuck messes with a gun while pointing it at themselves without making sure it isn't loaded? Is it a tough concept to realize that a loaded gun + the gun being pointed towards yourself + you cleaning the weapon = a very, very bad idea? Yeah, nothing could possibly go wrong.

Anyways, he survived, so he isn't eligible for a Darwin Award. Doesn't it feel great, knowing that his genes could be passed on?

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Apparently, Mr. Bell was arrested on Christmas Eve for shoplifting and resisting arrest. Yep, he was supposedly trying to steal clothes, got caught, was chased outside where he hid under a car, and then swung at the rent-a-cops when they found him. Amazing.

He also shot himself with a .22 calibur, supposedly in the shoulder, so yeah, not really something that even could be fatal. Shame, really, I guess the garbage doesn't get taken out today.

I still need to get used to it. Right now, I'm fighting habits from driving an automatic, like having to shift gears slipping my mind, not remembering to let down the parking brake, or trying to crank the car with the clutch not being down. I'm also getting used to driving in traffic. I'm not killing the engine as often, but I still screw up from time to time. Eventually all of this crap will be natural and it'll be shoved into my subconscious.

Driving the car is fun as hell, though. For a while, I was starting to think I should have gone with automatic, but really, if I can just perfect my driving, I think I'll enjoy the car a whole lot more in manual.

Oh, and this week is the first of two weeks where I'm off of the job. Feels good to relax during the day, but unfortunately I don't have vacation days to burn on it, so I'm not getting paid. At least I can come back in January though.

Yeah, I have never driven a stick shift car before, but I did tonight. Well... If you can call THAT driving. Turns out this is a million times harder than I was thinking. Getting used to the clutch being there is a pain really. Then again, it would be good to learn in general, it'll be more fun to drive, and it saved me a good $1000 for not getting the automatic transmission.

Besides that, I have two weeks outside of work to practice, since I won't be able to return after this week until Jan. 5th. I'm hoping that I can get used to it and get my license plate around that time so that I can start driving myself to work and everywhere.

Biggest rave and rant? Rave to the sunroof, I couldn't stand sunroofs because in most cars they are small as hell, but in a tC, the sunroof is huge. Rant? Well, the car is a 2-door car, and the driver's seat is able to go back to its original position, but the passenger side doesn't. In other words, the passenger has to move the seat back to the original position after someone gets in/out of the car. Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to put in a memory feature for both seats, but eh, oh well.

The car is awesome, but again... I still need to learn how to drive the damn thing.

The last thing any young girl needs is a scantily-clad, big-mouthed, slutty-looking, retarded doll from a series of dolls that share the same descriptive word that would be used to refer to a spoiled 16-year-old bitch that gives handjobs to 85% of the high school male population just to gain popularity.

Now, you COULD milk this and buy a bunch of those dolls before Christmas, store them for about 5 years, and then hock them on eBay for some easy money...

The new HDD has yet to be formatted in any way. I intend to get Vista and throw it on a 100GB partition, then throw 64-bit Kubuntu on a 50GB partition, then finally have the remainder sitting on a third partition. I'll probably buy Vista Home Premium and get the system builders edition. I really do not want to have to deal with Vista, at all, but it will probably be easier to deal with Shitsta than trying to get games to work under Kubuntu. XP is also not an option since I won't be able to utilize all of the RAM or all of the cores.

So yeah, I need Vista, but I also need a few 120mm fans for the new case. Some of the slots have holes in them for compatability with 80mm fans, which would be great since I -could- cannibalize the fans from my old case, but they are so dust-ridden that I might as well just invest money in new fans. I also need an HDMI cable so that I can use my TV as a secondary monitor (would be nice if I were watching a movie or something). One day I'll probably grab a second video card and use Crossfire, but I don't think it is necessary at the moment.

Here's the specs for my new computer:

AMD 64-bit Phenom 9950 Quad Core, 2.6GHz 125W
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe
4x2GB Corsair 800MHz
610W PSU
Sapphire ATI HD4850 512MB, Crossfire ready
1TB HDD
200GB HDD (from old PC)
DVD+/- burner (from old PC)
DVD-ROM (from old PC)
3.5" Floppy Drive (from old PC... just for the hell of it)
Mid-tower Case (max of 7 120mm fans, comes with 3, front fan has blue LEDs)

Cost me about $900, but at least I have a much more modern computer. Kinda scary how so much of the stuff in my old computer is outdated, obsolete junk now. But hey, it ran XP perfectly fine until it started going on the fritz.

Well, it has gotten to the point where even that doesn't boot it properly, it is just a matter of luck. "Luck", ironically, only means that it successfully boots, because it then shuts off without warning in about 10-15 minutes.

At first, I thought it was the power supply. The PSU's fan runs at an extremely low RPM and sometimes doesn't even report to the motherboard how fast it is turning. Well, my brother handed me a PSU that came with his case that he never used, and I replaced it. Well, same problem, no change.

Then I noticed that the computer would abruptly shut off when booting only when it attempts to read from the hard disk. Ok, I don't have a spare with any form of OS on it, so the next best thing is disconnecting the HDD and popping in a Kubuntu disc, let it boot using Live CD. Well, the computer -seems- to run stable, but unfortunately, the thing still shuts off during booting. This is only on the initial start-up, if it waits for a while it seems to boot with no problem.

At this point, I don't know what it is. It -could- be the video card, which makes a lot of noise on the initial boot, possibly to test the fan or go through some kind of self-test. If that's the case, I'm fucked, the mobo has no integrated video out, and its an AGP slot. It could be the processor, but unfortunately the processor's slot type is obsolete. It could be the motherboard, but again, the slots on it are old and therefore it would be a bitch to replace. It could even be some other random problem I haven't thought of yet.

It all boils down to one thing, the computer would need some money invested in it to repair it, and I don't know exactly what is causing the problem. Even if I did, would it really be worth throwing the money at it? The computer runs fine when it isn't shutting off for no damn reason, but it is severely limited when it comes to the new games coming out. I've had the thing for about 4 years, so I could use a new computer.

Either way, I'm able to have most of the necessary functions installed on Kubuntu in one form or another, and I also have XP on VM for the one or two programs that have no support in Linux.

Kubuntu is more than awesome laptop-wise, but I'm not sure about a Windows-less desktop. I have no idea how compatible PC games are in Linux. Apparently the guy who put Kubuntu on my laptop says Wine allows him to play Oblivion, but as I've said before, my experience with anything Linux was the one brief Linux class, and 90% of that class was learning Vi, making simple scripts, and using chmod.

Then again, I still dread Vista, so if XP is dropped, this would be one way to avoid it.

So yeah, getting a new agreement is basically asking UTS to fork out another $20,000 or so while it is trying to cut $1,000,000. Chances are, it will not happen. However, that isn't set in stone, as a temporary employee is far cheaper to employ than a permanent one. I'll have to see. Until then, obviously buying my car has been put off until I can secure some form of employment in 2009.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I spent some time during the weekend, and I couldn't find any jobs I really qualify for. I've looked at most places that would hire people like me (ISPs, banks, etc). That's why I'm really hoping I -can- work here for a while.

Scion tC: $853.72 ($142.29/mo.)
Honda Fit Sport: $718.45 ($119.74/mo.)

I'll most likely be getting the tC. Thank God, affordable insurance...

Well, I can't say that's honestly the truth. Basically, Democrats were destined to grab control of Congress and the White House. Obama winning just gives them a tight grip over all three branches (after all, how do SCOTUS judges get appointed). Even if by some miracle McCain won, Congressional Republicans were going to lose seats, making it even more difficult for shit to get done.

My biggest hopes? I hope the national debt gets paid off with the massive taxes we are going to see, and I hope we don't see a massive surge in Socialist bullshit.

My biggest fear? Democrats holding the White House and Congress for 20+ years. If that happens, enjoy your 60% tax on income to pay for ghetto/trailer trash. Socialism will turn America into a train wreck.

Here's one: When did your mother first get her driver's license? Oh wow, thanks assholes, because it really is relevant when someone in their fifties got their damn license. Here's another: If your car gets stolen, but you had liability, so no claim was filed and you weren't given the value of the car... How much was "damages" valued at? What, DAMAGES? You mean, how much was the car worth? How the fuck am I supposed to know? Well, I can't leave it blank, and I have no fucking idea what the car was worth. Here's another wonderful question... If you just bought a car, and you haven't owned a car in 6 months, and you are trying to apply for insurance on a new car, have you within 3 years time been without insurance for 1 month or more? If yes, well, when does your current insurance expire? HA, got you fucker. Oh, so you'll answer no? Even better, why the hell did you let your insurance lapse you deadbeat asshole? FUCK.

Needless to say, what quotes I can fudge to hell and back come up with jacked up prices. Geico was a pain and I ended up giving up on their site, Progressive required MASSIVE fudging and gave me the low price of $2000+/6 months (oh, and for the second time I've had them quote me a price did NOT have ANY comparison rates), and State Farm is by far the cheapest and least annoying, but quoted me at $168/mo. if I put a $2000 deductible on collision. Problem is, I fudged that one too, so who the fuck knows how much I'm going to have to pay?

I have a bad feeling that no matter what I try to own, because of the bullshit that's happened to me, I won't be able to afford insurance on a new car, and what's the point of having a used car? So it can get stolen again or slammed into again and I get shit on by the insurance company? I've already pissed thousands away on the three cars I -did- own. What makes this even worse is that I'm getting priced high because I'm a 22-year-old male, not to mention that I've lost three cars in less than three years.

Seriously, the nightmare only begins there. Someone slams into your parked car and totals it? Great, here's $800 for your troubles. Too bad that $800 will be absorbed back into whatever insurance takes you because, yes, your insurance goes up for accidents that aren't even your fault. Wonderful. Oh, your car got stolen? Too bad you didn't have liability or you could've gotten money for it. Oh, by the way, even though some crackhead thug stole the car for drug money and you didn't get shit out of your insurance, we're still going to charge you more for insurance.

Here's the scary thought, what IF the insurance on a car is more than I can afford? What if the payments on the car are lower than the premium I pay to some shit insurance company? As I said, I've wasted thousands on getting old cars that can just get totaled, break down, or get stolen and fuck me over even worse. I can't get a recent used car because I'll be shoving thousands into it, still have to pay higher insurance, and more than likely won't have any real warranty to work with, so you can throw maintenance costs in with it. Knowing my luck, the transmission would die 6 months later, if it didn't get stolen by then.

That's just it, I'm fucked. I'm fucked because some border-hopping fucker who can't speak a lick of English sped down a rainy road and slammed into some guy in an SUV who didn't yield right-of-way and totaled my first car. I'm fucked because I spent $2500 on a car that shit out on me, and not even what I expected it to shit out from. I'm fucked because some drug addicted bastard had to get his fix and stole my car to get it. I'm fucked because I'm under 25 and male and single, because apparently that allows them to compare me to some frat boy smashing daddy's ride.

Other than pissing money away on a car that wasn't in good shape, I don't get what I ever did wrong. My ass is paying for other peoples' mistakes. All I can do is go to the State Farm agent and hope that the shit I didn't say online doesn't hike the price up a few hundred dollars, but don't worry, it will.

The question remains, what do I do? Not own a car? That's going to fuck me over if shit causes me to lose this USC job, which judging on the last 22 years of my life, will happen (especially since I don't know many other places I can apply at).

Car buying: Well, my brother is leasing a Camry from Toyota Center, which was a much better experience than Dick Dyer. My credit score is decent, but I'm not sure if I can get the car on my own. We'll see, I guess. With a down payment of almost half the car's worth, I'd think that I'm OK, but shit always happens.

Car loans: Well, I want to keep my payments under $250/mo so that I can afford to pay them off even if I went back to working minimum wage (full-time). That would tie in with insurance, gas, food, and the student loan, obviously, so yes, it needs to be as low as possible.

Car insurance: Holy fuck. When I got a quote on the Yaris, I was happy since the insurance wasn't that bad. Not so much on a Scion tC... $210? Liability is pretty much $500ish per six months, collision is the same. Everything else is just comprehensive and a few added items. Seriously, what the fuck? If I increase the collision deductible to $2k, it goes down to $168/mo... I seriously don't get this shit. My driving record is fucking spotless and yet I'm paying out the ass. The sad part is, State Farm pretty much gives me the cheapest rate. I could get a quote from Geico or elsewhere, but it'd still be fucking high as hell.

Insurance is a total joke. Don't get me wrong, I understand that I need it, but what the fuck? I'm 22 and I've never had even one blemish on my driving record. I even drive fucking state vehicles. Fucking bullshit, if I were married or at least 26 years old insurance would be cheap, even if I had a wreck or a ticket or two from when I was younger. I mean, really, think about how much $210 is. Quite honestly, that's almost the same amount I will be paying monthly on my car loan.$1,260 is more than I paid for a semester at MTC after the lottery funding, even after buying books. The thing is, if you ARE a good driver, and you NEVER get in a wreck, get a ticket, or get your car stolen, you still don't get that money back. Yeah, in a few years that shit will drop, but I won't get my money back for that shit, just because I fit into some category I don't belong in, with shit drivers who fuck up their cars because they're too stupid to actually be driving one in the first place.

At least the $2000 deductible only hits me if I'm at fault for a wreck.

IT'S UNDER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAND!!!!

Who cares? I mean honestly, who cares? Nothing damning about Palin was released, and even if there WAS something, it would have still been her own damn fault. Kernell will probably make a formal apology in court, the defense will be that nothing bad was outed from the attack, the prosecution will probably note he gave other people the information so they could also gain access, the judge will finish masturbating and sentence the kid to pretty much the minimum sentence and have him on probation for the next few years.

I mean honestly, some of these idiots want this kid to go through the maximum sentence (both the quarter of a million dollar fine AND 5 years in some maximum security prison), and for what? Googling some information to pop open her account? What's next, maximum sentence armed robbery when a guy with a toothpick in his pocket steals a pack of gum? Come on. Does the "criminal scum" deserve to be punished? Yes, he should pay the fine or its off to jail, but damn, it isn't like he hacked a government e-mail account and sold government secrets to the highest bidder or something.

Finally, if you're going to have an e-mail account that makes you give it generic security questions/answers, then you shouldn't be using them, or at the very least, you shouldn't make the answers what most people would expect.

Republicans and their witch hunts... lrn2internets plz